Baroness Andrews, OBE
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Department for Communities and Local Government
(Elizabeth) Kay Andrews, OBE Baroness Andrews of Southover (2000), was appointed Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the newly created Department for Communities and Local Government in May 2006. Her new role reflects and expands upon her previous position at the former Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, where she was appointed following the General Election of May 2005.
Before being appointed as Parliamentary Under Secretary, Baroness Andrews was a Government Whip and Spokesperson in the House of Lords for Health, Work and Pensions, and Education and Skills (2003-2005).
Before being raised to the peerage, Baroness Andrews was a Fellow of the Science Policy Research Unit, Sussex University 1968 - 70; Parliamentary Clerk in the House of Commons 1970 - 85; and Policy Adviser to Neil Kinnock as Leader of the Opposition 1985 - 92. From 1992 - 2002, Baroness Andrews was the Founder and Director of Education Extra, the national charity for out of school learning and activities. She received the OBE in 1998 for her work in education.
She was educated at Lewis School for Girls, Hengoed, Ystrad Mynach and went on to study International Politics at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. At Sussex she took an MA in Political Sociology and subsequently a DPhil in History and Social Studies of Science.
She has written books and articles on the history and organisation of science and technology policy, on poverty and social policy, and on education.
Janne Antikainen
Ministry of the Interior
Department for Development of Regions and Public Administration/Regional Centre Programme, Finland
Janne Antikainen is a licentiate of human geography from Joensuu University.
He is currently a senior researcher in the Ministry of the Interior in Finland, where he applies national polycentric policies in the form of the regional centre programme. Previous appointments include Joensuu University (assistant, researcher in Academy of Finland urban research project, Urban Audit, 1997-2000), Nordregio. Stockholm (eg managing ESPON 1.1.1. polycentricity project, 2001-2003). He has written several international and national scientific and popular articles on polycentricity and regional development.
Greg Clark
Chairman
OECD Forum of Cities and Regions
Greg Clark is a city and regional development advisor with 20 years' experience, principally in leadership roles in city agencies in London (UK) and advisory roles with many cities/regions internationally, commercial, governmental and inter-governmental organisations.
He currently holds a portfolio of core roles including Advisor on City and Regional Development at the UK Department for Communities and Local Government and Chairman of the OECD Forum of Cities and Regions. He regularly facilitates major events on city and regional themes, and advises on strategy and leadership development.
Robin Earl
Head of Corporate Finance & Risk Management
English Partnerships, Gateshead, England
Robin graduated from Durham University in 1989 with an honours degree in Physics. He then joined the international firm of accountants, Price Waterhouse (now part of Price Waterhouse Coopers) where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant.
Based in the Newcastle upon Tyne office of Price Waterhouse, Robin gained extensive experience of corporate audit, financial due diligence and business planning. His clients included a number of multinational inward investors seeking to establish a presence in the UK.
In 1995, he left Price Waterhouse to join the finance team at the then recently established English Partnerships, the UK government's Agency for Urban Regeneration across England.
At English Partnerships, Robins work has been at the interface between the Agency and its private sector partners, undertaking due diligence reviews and structuring transactions from a financial viewpoint to manage risks. He played a key role in setting up Priority Sites Limited, a successful property development joint venture between English Partnerships and the Royal Bank of Scotland, and has contributed to the establishment of other English Partnerships joint ventures with the private sector. He is currently working on a number of potential new public-private joint ventures as part of the English Partnerships Urban Finance Initiative. Robin is married with three young children.
Sylvie Harburger
Desk Officer (Urban Policy)
European Commission. DG Regio, Urban Action Unit
For six years prior to being appointed to her present position, Sylvie Harburger was Director of Projects at Caisse des dépôts; Director of the Mission Ville Solidarite at SCET; Secretary General of the National Commission for the Développement Social des Quartiers for the Counseil National des Villes; and was responsible for the programme Quartiers à la Délégation Interministérielle à la Ville.
She was also Chargée de mission à la Commission Nationale pour le Développement Social des Quartiers (CNDSQ); and Chargée d'études au Bureau des études économiques et du Plan à la Direction de la Construction (Ministère de l'Equipement).
Her experience covers urban and social development; integrated urban programmes and policies for neighbourhoods and cities facing social issues; housing and urban planning; social issues (education, culture, youth, social etc) and local economic development and employment.
Professor José Manuel Henriques
Professor of Development Economics
ISCTE, Lisbon.
José Manuel Henriques is Professor of Development Economics at ISCTE - Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa, Lisbon, Portugal.
He is vice-chair of the Research Centre for Territorial Studies at ISCTE and coordinator of the CIARIS-Portugal Agency in relation with the anti-poverty ILO STEP Programme. He is currently advisor to the Secretary of State for Spatial Planning and Towns
Peter Hetherington
ASC Board Member
Peter Hetherington, former regional affairs editor of the Guardian, writes regularly for Society Guardian on housing, planning, local government, urban and rural affairs.
He was a member of the government's former urban sounding board, is a visiting professor at the Centre for Urban and Regional Development Studies, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, and a member of a Local Government Association (LGA) commission which is examining the role and direction of the LGA.
He lives on Tyneside. He became interested in communities in the late 60s, campaigning actively against a county council directive banning any development in former mining villages.
Terry Hodgkinson
Chair
Yorkshire Forward
In this key leadership role Terry Hodgkinson is responsible for the continuous refreshing, updating and promotion of the Regional Economic Strategy which has a direct influence on the region's £75.2 billion economy. Ultimately accountable for Yorkshire Forward's performance and output targets, Terry reports directly to senior government ministers and provides the key interface with Yorkshire Forward's stakeholders. He leads on a number of national issues on behalf of all Regional Development Agencies (RDAs) including maintaining relationships with the Treasury, CBI and TUC.
Terry is passionate about good design and architecture and is a keen supporter of the arts and built environment. He brings more than 30 years' business experience to the Chair post and has been involved with many property and building-related businesses within the region. He is currently chair of Magna Holdings Ltd., a property development and investment company where he is particularly involved in developing brownfield sites, redundant and historic buildings and work in conservation areas.
Terry is committed to professional and personal development. He believes that continuous learning is critical to success in a fast-changing world.
He is a Chartered Director of the Institute of Directors and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Building.
Professor Mark Kleinman
Director of Regional, Urban and Economic Policy
Department for Communities and Local Government (United Kingdom)
As Director he leads the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) work on Cities and Regions policy, urban design, property and urban regeneration and European regional funds. Mark's Directorate sponsors the work of English Partnerships and the Academy for Sustainable Communities, and provides the major funding for the nine English Regional Development Agencies and the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment.
Previously, Mark has been Director of Policy and Strategic Planning at the Audit Commission, Head of Housing and Homelessness at the Greater London Authority and Senior Policy Analyst in the Prime Minister's Strategy Unit.
Prior to his career in government, he taught and researched housing, urban and social policy at the University of Cambridge, the London School of Economics and as Professor of International Social Policy at the University of Bristol. He is the author or co-author of more than 100 books, articles and papers, including Housing, Welfare and the State in Europe: a comparative analysis of Britain, France and Germany (1996); A European Welfare State? European social policy in context (2001); and Working Capital: Life and Labour in Contemporary London (2002).
Mark Kleinman has been a member of advisory panels for the UK Minister for Local Government and for HM Treasury, and has acted as a consultant for, among others, the European Commission, the Department for Education and Science, the National Audit Office and many local authorities. He has given lectures and seminars in New York, Boston, Paris, Rome, Bologna, Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Kyoto and Osaka. He was visiting Urban Research Fellow at the Centre for Real Estate and Urban Policy, New York University in 1995 and a member of the US Social Science Research Committee Global Cities Working Group in 1993-1995. He is a Visiting Professor in the School of Social Sciences at City University London, and a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Univ Prof Werner Kvarda
Visiting Professor
Slovak Technical University, Bratislava
Studied Construction and Building Trade and Architecture at the Technical University, Vienna and Illinois Tech, Chicago, before being appointed Official Expert at the Austrian Institute of Regional Planning.
From 1971 - 1974 he was Technical Assistant at the Austrian Inst. of Building Research and Architectural Offices; 1975-1977 Assistant Professor at the Department of Spatial Planning, Technical University Vienna; 1978-1992 Professor at the Federal Horticultural School in Schönbrunn and Pedagogical Academy for Agriculture and Forestry, Ober St.Veith, Vienna; and from 1993-2002 Professor at the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences, Department of Landscape Planning, Vienna; he took up his present position in 2003.
Professor Kvarda is a Member of the Chamber of the Austrian CIVIL ENGINEERS - architect; was a Member of the "ENSI - Environment and school initiatives" project from 1986-1993; and a Member of the Advisory board of the "UNESCO-chair for sustainable development and ecological awareness". Banska Stiavnica since 1995 (Minister, Univ. Prof. Laszlo Miklos)
He has been President of the Austrian Permaculture Institute in Vienna since 1996 (see "Permakultur AUSTRIA" on the website www.permakultur.net), and has been director of the governing board of the Association for promoting sustainable development and supporting an ecologisation process in the Danube region (ACADEMIA DANUBIANA, www.academia-danubiana.net) since November 2003.
He has been awarded:
- Architekturpreis beim Donauinselwettbewerb. Architekturbüro Harry Glück (1974)
- Hans Czettel-Förderungspreis für Natur- und Umweltschutz in Niederösterreich für das "Projekt Hochleithen" (1983)
- The Conservation award (FORD-Preis). Brauchtumspreis "Projekt Pöllau" (1985)
- ICEM Medienwettbewerb. Anerkennungspreis Videofilm "Projekt Stadt Schlaining" (1990)
- Wettbewerb "Ideen, die Schule machen - Lernen mit Phantasie". DOG-Preis (Denken, organisieren, gestalten) vom BMUK für das Projekt Stadt Schlaining (1990).
Deborah Lamb
Director of Policy and Communications
English Heritage
As Director of Policy and Communications, Deborah Lamb seeks to influence government policies which impact on the country's historic environment. She is also responsible for corporate planning and communications and external relationships including across the historic environment sector.
Before joining the English Heritage, Deborah was Deputy Director of the government's Woman and Equality Unit. Prior to that Deborah worked in the Department of the Environment.
She is a member of the Non-Executive Steering Board of the Academy for Sustainable Communities.
Gary Lawrence
Principal and Global Leader for Sustainable Urban Development
Arup (USA)
Gary Lawrence leads the consulting practice in the firm's Seattle, US office. Arup is a firm of 7,000 engineers, designers, planners, and scientists helping shape a better built environment throughout the world from 82 offices in 35 countries on five continents. He helps public sector, private sector and non-profit organisations achieve success in both their terms and in society's terms through integration of sustainable principles and practices into their plans, strategies, products and services.
Prior to joining Arup he was President of Sustainable Strategies and Solutions, Inc., a firm that assisted international organisations and national government agencies with institutional and political change toward more sustainable public policy. Before creating this firm he directed the Center for Sustainable Communities in the University of Washington's College of Architecture and Urban Planning. Before joining the university he worked in local government as Planning Director for the City of Seattle, CAO of Redmond, WA and Chief of Staff for the Snohomish County (WA) Executive.
Gary is an invited speaker and lecturer in North America, Europe and Latin America on topics related to sustainable development, the politics of change, corporate social responsibility and urban planning. He was honoured to serve as a member of the United States Delegation to Habitat II, as Senior Policy Advisor to the Global Environment Center for US Agency for International Development and as Scientist-in-Residence at the University of Essen, Germany.
He is a member of the National Smart Growth Council, Advisory Committee for the UN Best Practices Centre, Deans Advisory Committee for the College of Agriculture and Landscape at the University of British Columbia, and Advisory Committee for the Center for Small Business and the Environment in addition to other voluntary roles. He is also an Adjunct Professor in the Huxley College of Environmental Studies at Western Washington University.
He resides in Seattle with his brilliant, lovely and charming wife, Dr Patricia Ann Totten.
Tom Leeuwestein
Head of Unit - Local & Regional Governance and Europe
Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations, The Netherlands
Tom Leeuwestein is head of unit within the Ministry of the Interior and Kingdom Relations. The Local & Regional Governance and Europe unit deals with European urban policy, state aid and procurement and other governance issues.
He has long experience in Dutch urban policy; was involved in the city-contracts between the national government and 30 Dutch cities; and was responsible for the 'Rotterdam law' (a special law enabling a limited number of cities to tackle serious urban problems by providing them extra authorities).
He is chairman of the Steering Group of the European Urban Knowledge Network (EUKN) and member of several committees of the OECD and the Council of Europe.
Prof J Owen Lewis
Chair, WG Environment and Sustainable Architecture, Architects Council of Europe
Qualified as an architect and a building services engineer, Owen Lewis has practised professionally in Ireland, England and Zambia and has taught also in Jordan, the USA, China and Germany. He has coordinated a number of European Commission energy research and dissemination activities and has lectured in most EU Member States.
Coordinator, EC Directorate General Research Thematic Network ‘EnerBuild RTD 2000-2003 with sub-contractors in all Member States; and several DG for Science, Research and Development Energy R+D projects focused on research and technology transfer on energy utilisation in buildings and solar architecture. Responsible for and participant in various energy technology activities within the EC DG Energy THERMIE and DG TREN projects in SAVE, ALTENER and ENERGIE programmes, and Sustainable Energy Ireland actions. Also research on the conservation, rehabilitation, and repair of buildings.
Visiting Professor at the University of Amman in Jordan 1983 and Fulbright Senior Research Scholar at University of California at Berkeley and Arizona State University 1997.
Owen Lewis was responsible for Building Technology in the School of Architecture in University College Dublin for many years, and is director of the UCD Energy Research Group. He was Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture UCD 2001 to 2005, and Principal of the UCD College of Engineering, Mathematical and Physical Sciences and Vice President of the University until July 2006. He chairs the Architects' Council of Europe workgroup on Environment & Sustainable Architecture.
Professor Lewis has particular interests in the processes of innovation and technical change in the construction industry and the provision of technical support to designers, in addition to his continuing activities in energy utilisation and sustainability in the built environment.
Peter Lobban
Chief Executive
Construction Skills
Peter joined CITB as Chief Executive in April 1998 and became Chief Executive of Construction Skills - the industry's new Sector Skills Council which was licensed in September 2003. He is a Non-Executive Director of the BRE Trust and Director of WISE - Women in Science, Engineering & Construction and is a member of the London 2012 Employment and Skills Taskforce. He was also a Board Member of Movement for Innovation (now Constructing Excellence) from 1999 to 2005.
Prior to this Peter worked for Shell. During the course of his career with Shell he held various directorships both in the UK and overseas. He was also Chairman of the Offshore Petroleum Industry Training Organisation and managed the industry's safety training response to the Piper Alpha disaster.
Irene Lucas
Chief Executive
South Tyneside Council
Irene was appointed Chief Executive of South Tyneside Council in 2002. Previously she was Executive Director and Assistant Chief Executive of Sunderland City Council and held appointments in public bodies, including the BBC and the Sports Council of England.
She is a Board Member of Business Link, the Small Business Service, the Tyneside Economic Development Company and the Institute of Public Policy Research (NE). She also works with the Football Association, Premier League, Department of Culture Media and Sport and Sport England.
Jan Maarten de Vet
Director
ECOTEC Brussels
Jan Maarten is leading the development of the ECORYS Group's European research and consultancy services. He is currently leading the work on the State of the European Cities Report for the European Commission and guiding the Research programme for the Intergovernmental Expert Working Group on the European Investment Bank and Sustainable Communities. Last year, he led the Evidence Review in preparation for the Bristol Ministerial Informal held in December 2005.
Jan Maarten has extensive experience on sustainable regional development, regional competitiveness and Structural Funds across Europe. He has been engaged in various European Commission projects in this area over the last few years and has been equally involved in the preparation of various complex urban development projects, mostly in the Netherlands. In addition, he has lived and worked in Central and Eastern Europe (Estonia, Hungary, Czech Republic, Slovenia, Lithuania) and has supported the New Member States in their preparations to accommodate the Structural Funds. Jan Maarten has also worked in Germany, Belgium, France, England and Scotland. Earlier in his career, he has worked as a Young Professional at the OECD, in areas of local, urban and regional development.
George Martin
Head of Sustainability
Willmott Dixon Construction
George is Head of Sustainability with Willmott Dixon Construction's Re-Thinking Business Unit, a new initiative aiming to deliver sustainable buildings for all sectors. He is also Non-Executive Director of the Academy for Sustainable Communities, Associate Director of the sustainability charity Forum for the Future and a member of the Sustainability Forum and the Sustainable Procurement Task Force.
Until recently, he was Director of Sustainability at BRE, before which he worked for five years with Jonathon Porritt at Forum for the Future. His earlier career included being Director of Environment for Tarmac Construction Services and MD of Stanger Science and Environment.
Leif Magnusson
Director
Multicultural Centre, Botkyrk
Leif Magnusson is director of the Multicultural Centre in Botkyrk and chairman of the Cultural Encounters Group (a group for the Swedish museums to focus cultural encounters).
The Multicultural Centre was founded in 1987 in the municipality of Botkyrka to the south of Greater Stockholm. The research carried out at the centre deals with urban issues. The centre has done many evaluations of projects and is constantly monitoring the issues.
Catherine Max
Programme Manager London Works: Health and Sustainable Economic Development, London Health Commission
Catherine Max heads a strategic programme in health and sustainable economic development on behalf of the London Health Commission, working closely with colleagues from the London Sustainable Development Commission. She is a specialist advisor to the London Development Agency in their capacity of national lead RDA for health. She also supports London's Regional Public Health Group (the Department of Health's regional office) on health and employment issues.
Before moving into public policy, Catherine worked in book publishing and was, for several years, a commissioning editor at Cambridge University Press.
Catherine is a Trustee of Equinox, a specialist social care organisation, and has also held non-executive positions with the Cambridge Darkroom Gallery and Oxford Theatre Group Ltd. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA).
Richard McCarthy
Director General - Programmes, Policy and Innovation
Department for Communities and Local Government (United Kingdom)
Before joining DCLG in October 2003, Richard was the Chief Executive of the Peabody Trust since 1999, a major housing association and regeneration agency that operates across London. Prior to this he was Group Chief Executive of the Horizon Housing Group (formerly the South London Family Housing Association Group). Richard joined the Horizon Housing Group after 15 years with the Hyde Housing Association most recently as Operations Director where he had the lead role in developing a range of innovative and successful physical regeneration and development proposals.
Richard was a member of the Home Ownership Task Force and the Egan Skills Review Group, both of which were established by the Deputy Prime Minister following the publication of the Sustainable Communities Plan. He was the Chair of the National Housing Federation from 2000-2003 and has been a member of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation Housing and Neighbourhoods Committee. He was educated at Southampton University and is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Housing.
Craig McLaren
Director - Scottish Centre for Regeneration (SCR)
Communities Scotland, the national regeneration agency.
The SCR aims to support people involved in community regeneration through acting as a hub for the exchange of what works and by identifying and developing the skills they require to improve their effectiveness. Craig took up this position in March 2003.
Prior to this Craig was Chief Executive of Scottish Urban Regeneration Forum (SURF), the independent regeneration network promoting best practice in regeneration. Between 1994 and 1997 he was Director of the Royal Town Planning Institute in Scotland and before this worked as a planner and economic development officer for the London Borough of Kingston upon Thames.
Craig received a BA (Hons) in Planning from the University of Glasgow 1988. He is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute and Institution of Economic Development. He is also a Board Member of Greenspace Scotland.
Anne McNamara
Co-founder
FSquared
Anne McNamara is an entrepreneur with a track record in developing businesses that generate social capital value. Throughout her working life she has set up and led businesses that directly intersect the social and economic regeneration agenda.
In 2002 she co-founded FSquared - a progressive regeneration consultancy, which was set up to add social and economic value to large-scale capital developments. It was established to work with the major players to ensure that schemes allow local people to have: a real influence on their built environment at the right stage, the opportunity to directly benefit from regeneration initiatives, a long-term stewardship strategy that will maintain and develop the environment into the future and continue to build pride when the developers have gone.
In 2005 Anne was appointed as a non-executive board member of the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC) in Leeds. ASC is a national and international centre of excellence for the skills and knowledge needed to create and renew local communities that are vibrant, prosperous and attractive to live in, now and in the future.
In 2003 Anne co-founded InspireNation; this is a best practice company that takes small groups of leaders to some of the most fascinating places and companies on earth. We inspire organisations to excel through experience. Tours have included: Economic development - Ireland's Tiger Economy; Cultural Regeneration - Bilbao, Spain; Cluster Development - Copenhagen; Innovation - Finland, Helsinki.
In 1999 Anne co-founded Vision 21, a social research company. Vision 21 specialises in research and community consultation with hard-to-reach groups. The company works mainly for the public sector and has led the field in surveying groups such as ‘heavy drinkers on Camden streets', ‘BNP supporters in Northern England' and has extensive experience of balloting tenants on numerous stock transfers.
In 1992 Anne co-founded The Big Issue in the North, a company focused on supporting homeless people into lives away from the streets via one of the country's biggest social enterprises. Anne ran the company and later the sister charity for nearly 10 years and worked with thousands of homeless people across the North of England.
Dagmara Mlczynska-Hajda
Expert
Ministry of Regional Development, Poland
Dagmara Mlczynska-Hajda is an expert in urban development and town planning, dedicated to urban renewal. She is a qualified architect (MSc, Engineer), and post-diploma education in the field of regional and local management.
She has broad experience in urban renewal programming, regional strategic planning, physical planning and town management; including 17 years of professional activity on various positions in municipal, regional and national institutions including Counsellor to the Minister of Regional Development and Director of the Department of Regional Policy in the Ministry of Regional Development.
She is an author and co-author of many publications on revitalization, town development, town planning and housing issues; recently dedicated to elaboration of the national strategy of regional development and the assumptions of the state policy on urban development; co-author of the project of Urban Revitalization Act and national regulations on PPPs. She is a member of the Society of Polish Architects, Society of Polish Town Planners, International Federation for Housing and Planning, and is Secretary General of the Society "Forum for Revitalization"- the leading Polish non-governmental organisation devoted to urban renewal.
Debra Mountford
Manager
OECD LEED Forum for Cities and Regions and Policy Analyst
Since joining the OECD in 1997 Debra Mountford has developed extensive experience of cross-sectoral policy analysis in relation the institutional, economic, social and environmental dimensions of local development. She researched and wrote the first international comparative study of Urban Brownfield Redevelopment from which in 1999, the Urban Renaissance Series was created and she was responsible for reviews of Belfast, Krakow, Canberra and Glasgow, she contributed to reviews of Berlin and Kitakyushu. She co-authored Urban Policy in Germany and Managing Urban Growth.
In 2000, she represented the OECD as a member of the European Commission Working Party on Sustainable Land Use. In 2001, she contributed to the sustainable development report in preparation for the OECD Ministerial. She co-authored a review of Smart Growth in Maryland, United States and the Metropolitan Reviews of Athens and Mexico City.
In 2004 she joined the OECD LEED (Local Employment and Economic Development) Programme where she is Manager of the OECD LEED Forum for Cities and Regions. She has completed a report on Managing Plant Closures (2004) and launched a new series of reviews focusing on Development Agencies, Economic Strategies for Cities and Sustainable Urban Finance. She represents the OECD on the Skills for Sustainable Communities Expert Group and the Sustainable Urban Finance Expert Group in addition to participating in numerous international conferences.
Professor Kevin Murray
Director
Kevin Murray Associates
Kevin is a leading urban planner and community stakeholder facilitator, with more than 25 years' experience in the fields of planning, regeneration, urban design and economic development. After working in local government in London he was a director of two multidisciplinary consultancies, Tibbalds Monro and EDAW, before establishing Kevin Murray Associates.
Kevin is a past president of the Royal Town Planning Institute and a founding member of both the Urban Design Alliance and the Academy of Urbanism. He was a member of the Egan Task Group on Skills for Sustainable Communities and an RTPI Education Commissioner.
He is currently a Board Member of the Academy for Sustainable Communities and advises many public, private and partnership bodies on community regeneration and settlement growth. He has recently been appointed Honorary Professor of Planning at Glasgow University.
Daniel Popescu
Directorate of Co-operation for local and regional democracy (Romania)
Council of Europe, Strasbourg
Daniel Popescu is a qualified engineer, starting his career with the Land Improvement Company before working in Automotive Engineering Research for the National Institute for Research in Transports, Bucarest.
In 1992, he became Executive Secretary in charge of local government for The Civic Alliance Party in Bucharest and in May 1995 was appointed Parliamentary Expert in foreign affairs for the Romanian Parliament, Department of International Relations.
In February 1997, he joined the Centre of Expertise for Local Government Reform working on European regional/spatial planning; from 1997-2005, he was responsible for inter-governmental policy-making in the field of local and regional democracy; and he is currently Administrator in charge of capacity-building programmes for local government in Europe.
Daniel Popescu holds a Master of Science (graduate diploma) in Engineering from the Polytechnical Institute of Bucharest; a Master of Arts (postgraduate diploma) in Political Science, National School for Political Studies and Administration (S.N.S.P.A.), Bucharest; graduation study: Local Finance in Europe; and an International Diploma in Administration, French National School for Administration (Ecole Nationale dAdministration - ENA), Paris-Strasbourg.
He speaks Romanian (native), French and English.
Professor Peter Roberts
Chair
Academy for Sustainable Communities (United Kingdom)
As Chair of the Academy for Sustainable Communities (ASC), Peter is responsible for providing effective strategic leadership and is the link between the ASC Steering Board and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG).
Peter is also Professor of Sustainable Spatial Development at the Sustainability Research Institute, University of Leeds and advises Addleshaw Goddard on sustainable communities, regeneration, regional and urban planning and environmental management.
He is currently Vice-President of the Town and Country Planning Association, Hon. Vice-Chair of the Regional Studies Association, Chair of the Best Practice Committee of the British Urban Regeneration Association, Chair of the Planning Exchange Foundation and an advisor to the Local Government Association.
